England cricket team, the defending champions of ODI WC would be shell-shocked after a below-par performance against Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir was not happy with the performance of England’s batters in a must-win clash. Gautam Gambhir said that selfishness has no place in the sport.
England perhaps missed the trick by not including Jason Roy in the squad as he has a pretty good track record in sub-continental conditions. England should have gone ahead with the speedster Jofra Archer rather than naming him as a substitute for the marquee ODI WC 2023.
The form of Joe Root proved to be the turning point and at the same time, there was lack of role clarity amongst the players. The management should have made Jos Buttler bat a bit up the order as he knows how to tackle the spinners in the Asian conditions.
You cannot bat in just one way- Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir was having an interaction with Star Sports and was fumed up on English batting line up and said that the batters’ body language was extremely disinterested. Gautam Gambhir pointed out that there was lack of intent & character and said that the shots were quite ordinary after the star batter Joe Root got out.
“England’s body language from the start was as though they were extremely disinterested. You cannot bat in just one way. There isn’t even one batter in this entire batting unit who wants to grind. There is a difference between being able to do it and wanting to do it.”
“A lot of players say that this is their style and it’s up to you whether you select them or not. It means you are extremely selfish. Selfishness does not have any role in a team sport. It seemed like everyone was playing for their reputation and not for the country,”
“After the first 7 overs, it seemed like England would score 350 or 400. After that, no one tried to grind or spend time in the middle. Extremely ordinary shots after Joe Root got out. There wasn’t even one player who got out because of the wicket.”
“The good thing from Sri Lanka’s point of view was that they played an excellent bowling attack. When you play three frontline fast bowlers, the captain always has the option of bowling a good bowler from one end,” he added.